Digital Technology to Enhance Project Leadership Practice: The Case of Civil Construction

Abstract

Digital transformation is fundamentally influencing all aspects of business and society. It can enable individuals and organisations to transcend from one way of working to another. In construction, emphasis is shifting from project management to project leadership, as professionals need assisting tools to not only aid in managing tasks and activities, but to aid in leading people. As such, the adoption of digital technologies may hold the key in taking project leadership practice into the future. To date, there have been few attempts to explore the potential of digital technology as an aid for project leadership development and practice. This research therefore aims to investigate this potential in the context of the Australian civil construction industry. We review the existing body of knowledge on both industry-specific leadership demands and relevant digital technology capabilities to identify areas of improvement and to guide interviews with construction project managers. So far, literature has focused on endorsing particular leadership behaviours and/or styles, whilst ignoring the difficulties faced by professionals in practicing these behaviours. We find that project managers of civil contractors within Sydney understand the significance of leadership, but are often overwhelmed by its complexity. They demonstrate a strong willingness to adopt digital technologies as assisting mechanisms for leadership. Participants also lament on leadership challenges relating to project scope, industry attitudes and culture, level of authority, leadership habits/behavior, communication and team development. All of which are identified as areas in which the implementation of digital technologies can make significant contributions to improve leadership practice. Project leadership demandsDigital technology capabilities RQ2: Digital technology capabilities in constructionSection 3: Industry case example RQ3: Challenges to fulfil demands RQ4: Digital technologies to overcome challenges SourceThe source is attainable in digital form. ContentContent principally focuses on leadership and/or technology. KeywordsSearch is conducted using a combination of relevant words that depict leadership/technology (including plural or connotative equivalents) ContextSources are published within an international journal in the domain of construction, engineering, project management and the built environment. ReliabilityThe source is academic/scholarly. RelevancyThe source is published English language within the date range specified;• RQ1 sources published within the last 10 years (from 2007 onwards)• RQ2 sources published within the last 3 years (from 2014 onwards)